Photograph by Caroline Carson: Fun at the ballpark
by the Rev. Sharon Alexander, Chair of the Louisiana Deputation
The Louisiana Deputies had another long day on Monday. Several of us had Legislative Committee hearings and meetings in the morning. The meetings for Program, Budget and Finance and for Governance and Structure were both long and lively. Both of these committees still have much work to do.
A number of important resolutions passed the House of Deputies, some of which will go to the House of Bishops for their approval. Those going to the House of Bishops for approval include proposals for revitalizing congregations, increasing the church’s capacity for planting new churches, creating and funding a Task for For Latino-Hispanic Congregational Development and Sustainability, decreasing gun violence, removing the Confederate battle flag from Episcopal church buildings, and funding emphasizing and funding online digital evangelism. The House of Deputies concurred with the House of Bishops resolution to authorize a new liturgical resource titled A Great Cloud of Witnesses, which provides guidelines for commemorating people whose lives have been important to the church.
At the end of the day most of the Deputies went to see the Salt Lake City Bees (the AAA affiliate for the Angels) defeat the Albuquerque Isotopes 7-2.
Tuesday will be another long day, with a special order of business toward the end of the afternoon for consideration of some of the proposals for restructuring the Episcopal Church. The Deputies are working hard but enjoying spending time together and meeting new friend. Salt Lake City has been a wonderful host.